Includes coal consumed at mines. Demonstrated coal reserve base for United States on January 1, 1997, was an estimated 508 billion tons. Recoverability varies between 40 and 90 percent for individual deposits; 50 percent or more of overall U.S. coal reserve base is believed to be recoverable] For coal terms, see http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/gloss.html

category, and method of transportation are reported. The data gathered on the Form EIA-6A represent only the domestic coal distributed; therefore, imported coal distributed during the year is not included. The respondent list for this survey is updated by comparing it with lists of coal producers from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. Also, new respondents are frequently identified on Form EIA-6A itself when other companies are named as sources of coal purchases. Current year data from this survey are considered final in the Coal Industry Annual (DOE/EIA-0584). (View Form EIA-6A and instructions at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/surveys/formeia6.pdf) Coal Production Report (Form EIA-7A) The Energy Information Administration (EIA) began collecting annual coal production data on October 1, 1977. From 1977 through the 1997 data collection cycle, coal production and identification data were collected on Form EIA-7A, ""Coal Production Report, from companies that produced, processed, or prepared coal. All other data collected on Form EIA-7A were reported for only those companies that owned a mining operation that produced, processed, or prepared 10,000 short tons or more of coal during the year and preparation plants with 5,000 or more employee hours. Data collected on this form included: coal reserves, coal disposition, value, direct labor hours, number of production days worked, average length of a production shift, average number of miners per shift, average number of shifts per day, and coal bed information (bed name, thickness, coal rank). Beginning with the 1998 data collection cycle, Form EIA-7A was revised and is used to survey U.S. companies that owned a mining operation that produced, processed, or prepared 10,000 short tons or more of coal during the year and preparation plants with 5,000 or more employee hours. Companies with operations falling under these thresholds are not required to report; however, identification and production data are obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Form 7000-2, ""Quarterly Mine Employment and Coal Production Report."" (See description below.) For mining operations within the threshold, Form EIA-7A collects data on identification, coal beds, reserves, capacity, disposition, and value. Coal production, number of miners and number of employee hours data for these mining operations are obtained from MSHA Form 7000-2. Data from the Form EIA-7A are considered final at the time of publication. (View Form EIA-7A: for mines only at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/surveys/formeia7amine.pdf; for co-located mine and preparation plant/tipple at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/surveys/formeia7atip.pdf; for preparation plant or other facility at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/surveys/formeia7aprep.pdf; instructions at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/surveys/eia7ainst.pdf) Quarterly Mine Employment and Coal Production Report (MSHA Form 7000-2) MSHA Form 7000-2 is a quarterly survey of all mining operations in the United States. EIA, through a Cooperative Agreement with MSHA to reduce respondent burden, receives quarterly data on coal production, number of miners and number of employee hours reported for U.S. coal mines. The EIA and MSHA edit these data and incorporate updates reported by the mines during the reporting year. Data from this survey are reported by EIA as quarterly coal production data in the Quarterly Coal Report, and the data are considered by EIA to be final when published in the Coal Industry Annual.